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MX5PC Build Diary
19 Aug 04 21 Aug 04 next next

This page chronicles my experiences designing, building, installing and using the carputer. The reason I'm doing this is in case anyone else wants to do something similar. I want to let others learn from my mistakes and experiences (this works, this didn't, this fried, etc). And yes, I blatantly ripped off my old camryamp site to make this one. It's my own work, so it's not plagiarism, right?


  • 19 Aug 2004
    OK, so I've finally decided to get back into the carputer scene. I found a hell of a deal on a 7" TFT touschreen on ebay, and I've still got the remains of CamryAmp v2.0 (which never saw the light of day). I've been meaning to install a carputer into the miata ever since i bought the car, but I just haven't had the time. I'm getting tired of lugging my laptop with me everywhere, and while it's spiffy looking, passengers tire of having a hot laptop on their lap, and I tire of picking the laptop up off the floor every time I have to hit the brakes hard. Nevermind the big theft concern in a convertible with a laptop there... So I'll be working on this as time permits between work and play.

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  • 21 Aug 2004
    I got the screen in the mail. It looks like it'll be a nearly perfect fit for the double-din opening where the radio was. One problem. The damn screen doesn't work! GAH! I emailed the seller yesterday, and haven't got a response back yet. We'll see what happens.

    Also, after doing more reading on the MP3car.com Forums, I have decided to change my power setup. I was originally using a desktop power supply and inverter in camryamp, and was going to do the same in mx5pc at first, but now i've decided to go straight dc-dc. I found the Carnetix CNX-P1260 power supply, which is a good high power 12VDC regulator with some nifty timers in it. It doesn't have a 5V rail, but I can fix that... check out my thread on the mp3car forum about power supplies. All I will need outside the carnetix and the 5v regulator will be a couple relays and switches to do the "fake UPS" and also a switch to be able to turn on the PC without the ignition on, so I can do stuff like connect to the home network to update files, rip a cd, or whatever else I may need/want to do.

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